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Will this policy work?

Posted by: Sumayyah Tasnim, Posted on: 15 July 2020 - Categories: Blog posts, Evaluation, Resources for civil servants

Five questions to help policy makers understand if their policy is working.

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What works for What Works: How to communicate effectively

Posted by: Dr Cameron Brick, Posted on: 16 January 2020 - Categories: Blog posts, Evaluation, Guest blogs

Evidence summaries are harder to produce than you might think. A new evaluation looks at how well the What Works Network is communicating evidence and what improvements could be made. 

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12 highlights over 12 months

Posted by: Sumayyah Tasnim, Posted on: 18 December 2019 - Categories: Blog posts

The 2019 highlights you've all been waiting for....

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Using academics to advise government on trial design

Posted by: Dr Emily Power and Dr Riikka Hofmann, Posted on: 29 October 2019 - Categories: Blog posts

The What Works Team are looking for experts in impact evaluation to join our Trial Advice Panel to help support high quality evaluation practice across government. In this blog, Riikka Hofmann reflects on her experience as an academic member of the Panel.

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An interview with David Halpern, What Works National Adviser

Posted by: David Halpern, Posted on: 25 October 2019 - Categories: Blog posts
David Halpern

Hear from David Halpern, What Works National Adviser, on his journey so far and his ambitions for the next three years.

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Inside the world’s ‘what works’ teams

Posted by: Dr Jen Gold, Posted on: 14 January 2019 - Categories: Blog posts
An image of the earth inside a conical test tube

Governments around the world are investing in experimentation units to improve the quality of evidence used in decision-making.

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What Works 101: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Posted by: Janine Ostick, Posted on: 1 August 2018 - Categories: Resources for civil servants, What Works 101

...and turn them into accessible guidance or toolkits – catalogues of which interventions are most effective in different policy areas, according to the best studies around the world. What Works...

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The road to robustness: common pitfalls in evaluating programmes

Posted by: Tom McBride, Posted on: 6 July 2018 - Categories: Blog posts, Guest blogs, Resources for civil servants

The Early Intervention Foundation’s Tom McBride explains why programme evaluation is crucial to the success of children’s service, but can be undermined by surprisingly basic issues.

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What Works in Westminster Palace – Evidence Week 2018

Posted by: Edward Orlik, Posted on: 22 June 2018 - Categories: Blog posts
A photograph of the Houses of Parliament shortly after sunset.

Next week the Houses of Parliament are playing host to the inaugural Evidence Week. It's a chance for citizens, MPs and policymakers to talk about why evidence matters and how make the best use of it.

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Learning what works in building integrated communities

Posted by: Maria O'Beirne, Posted on: 22 June 2018 - Categories: Blog posts, Case studies, Guest blogs
The government is using robust evidence from from an MHCLG trial in its new Integrated Strategies green paper

...to evaluate using an RCT approach, but we considered it to be exactly the right type of project to undergo this kind of robust inquiry. Its results may not seem...

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About this blog

What Works is about bringing better evidence and experimental techniques to bear on public policy.

The Cabinet Office What Works Team coordinates the What Works Network and the Cross Government Trial Advice Panel, and we work within government to improve policy through evidence use and experimentation.

In this blog, we bring together examples of best practice and resources for civil servants who want to find out what works and put robust evidence to good use.

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  • This blog is now archived 29 September 2021
  • Will this policy work? 15 July 2020
  • Does mindfulness work in policing? 2 March 2020

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